a beauty blog

My Favourite Makeup Brushes ♡

Brushes are possibly your most important makeup tool! They ensure your makeup is blended to perfection and evenly applied. Brushes come in a range of shapes, sizes, prices and materials – and the selection can sometimes be overwhelming. The best quality ones aren’t always the most expensive, but looking for soft and dense brushes is usually the way to go. Here are my favourite brushes for the face and the eyes, and how I like to use them!

I use brushes from a range of brands and price-tags, and love them all! I am always on the lookout for ones that are soft, dense and long-lasting (that it’s hairs don’t start falling out after a week)! If you’re looking for new brushes for your collection or are looking to buy your first ones ever, I definitely recommend all of these well-loved brushes. They have all been tried and tested, and I can say they are all good quality and will last you a long time.

– Face Brushes –

Foundation: Real Technique’s ‘expert face brush’ – this brush is amazing for blending out your foundation to a flawless and even finish. It’s soft and gentle on the skin, and honestly makes applying foundation so much easier – it’s quick and ensures the foundation is spread evenly. If you’re a beginner to using foundation brushes, I definitely recommend this one – it’s very hard to use wrong!

Concealer: Artiste ‘Foundation/Concealer brush (50)’ – perfect for blending concealer into the inner corner or any other areas of the face that are difficult to reach.

Powder: Ecotools ‘Large powder brush’ – a super soft brush that applies just the right amount of powder! It’s nice and big too so applying face powder is really quick.

Blush: Artiste ‘blush brush (21)’ – I love the angle of this brush, it makes applying blush along your cheeks really simple and I find turning it on it’s side gives the most precise application.

Bronzer: Artiste ‘Stippling brush (17) – having fair skin, applying bronzer can be difficult as I don’t want to apply too much! I find this brush perfect as it’s duo-fibre meaning it’s going to apply less product and really blend the bronzer out.

– Eye brushes –

Eye-brows: ‘Brow brush’ (p014) – this brush is super dense so it’s perfect for applying a powder to your brows. I don’t like my brows to be too precise or defined, and this brush is perfect for quickly filling them in.

Lid: MAC 239 ‘Eye shader brush’ – while it’s lovely and soft, this brush packs the eyeshadow on! I find it’s shape perfect for the lid and it really makes your eyeshadow apply with full pigmentation.

Socket: Louise Young ‘Large socket brush (LY12)’ – this little dense brush is great for really putting on lots of product, especially when using darker colours. I use this brush in the socket, particularly at the outer edges of my eyes to really build colour and depth.

Crease (definition): Artiste ‘Rounded crease brush (33) – I love how thin this brush is making it ideal for defining the crease. I use this when applying dark colours in the crease to really create a dark and precise shadow.

Crease (blending): MAC 217 ‘Blending brush’ & Sigma ‘Tapered blending brush (E35)’ – I love using these two brushes to blend out my eyeshadow. I will usually use the MAC brush first to initially blend as it’s smaller, and then when it starts to get too much product on it – I’ll switch to the Sigma brush. This way my eyeshadow is really well blended and I have no harsh lines. They are both soft, fluffy and very good quality (I’ve had the MAC brush for almost four years!)